Be Glitterati Back in Fresh Goods

Fresh Goods Sneakers and Apparel have been a supporter of our brand form day one and I'm happy to announce that they are carrying our Mixin Up the Medicine tee and beglitterati.com promo stickers. Pay them a visit. They have a tun of dope stuff.

Lucky Code Book Cover

We recently designed a book cover for first time author, Gayneté Edwards. The book is called, Lucky Code: A Guide For Winning at Life. Lucky Code is a wonderful alphabetical guide to help you create your own luck in life. Visit gaynete.com for more information about the book and how to order it.

Be Glitterati Ties

My first attempt at tie making

In a recent post, I hinted at the possibility of releasing cut and sew products but in all honesty, I saw that as a long-term goal that I wouldn't be able to pull off any time soon. Knowing that I’ve been working towards this goal, my wife pulled some strings to help turn this dream into reality. I’m excited to announce that we will be releasing a line of neckties later this year! The images in this post are of my first kick at the can.

Work in progress

At the workroom in Toronto

Supporting The Pro-Game 2015

Glitterati Communications is proud to support Dave O’Connell in “The Pro-Game 2015". Today, starting at 12 pm he will play 24 gruelling hours of hockey to raise funds for the IWK Foundation, Jumpstart and Boys & Girls Club of East Dartmouth. These are great organizations that do wonderful things for our community. Support Dave Here.

Cut and Sew Aspirations

In an effort to take Glitterati Communications a little further into the fashion world, I took my first sewing class with the wonderful folks at Patch Halifax. I struggled at times but my instructor, Elliot was a pro and always managed to get me back on track. I'm excited about the possibilities. Is this the start of a Be Glitterati cut and sew line in 2016?

New Be Glitterati Apparel

We've added some new products to our store. Now you can get sand coloured, “In Glit We Trust” t-shirts and black “Mixin Up the Medicine” t-shirts, hoodies and crewneck sweaters to keep you warm and fresh during the winter. 

Future Glitterati – Mo

The most recent addition to the Future Glitterati series is my conversation with the Lion-Hunter herself, Mo Handahu. 

Reginald Magazine Review

Reginald Magazine is the latest fashion publication to hit the Halifax Regional Municipality. So far they seem to be doing a lot of things right. They have a focused leader, good design, good stories with people that are relevant to Halifax's fashion scene, a good team of folks behind them and they're doing well in the online social arena. I'm excited to see what's next for them. On another note, the excellent style journal, Fashion East celebrated their first birthday last night. Hopefully, them and the growing list of fashion creatives, writers and retailers in this region can keep the momentum going and establish a true fashion industry on the East Coast.

Adams Management Group Logo Design

Adams Managment Group is a new company that helps businesses with unique science or technology related patents to expand their global presence. To help them better communicate what they do to their perspective clients, we designed a logo and promotional materials for them.

Ghettosocks with DJ Jon Deck - We're Gonna Drink A Lot Of Wine This Year, Boys. (Mixtape)

That dude Ghettosocks recently released another project with DJ Jon Deck. Dope beats. Dope lyrics. Boom bap shit. Word. Features include, Swamp Thing, Muneshine, Torae, Ambition, Chokeules, Timbuktu, Wordburglar and Jesse Dangerously. The highlights for me are, I'm Loaded, Keep it G, Zanzibar and dude is absolutely snappin on Grapez. Cop or stream We're Gonna Drink A Lot of Wine This Year, Boys. 

Fiz - NBA 3X 2012

My man Fiz doing his thing in this past weekend's NBA 3X tournament in Halifax. Congrats to the Outsidaz on their 3rd place finish! Ya boy Glitterati Duane needs to get in the line up next time though. Just sayin!

Future Glitterati - Jaro

Photo courtesy of Katherine Kerr Photography

This interview was originally intended to be part of a project that I started late last year but got too busy to complete. Doing a Masters, working full time and taking on client work has taken over my life and is kicking my independent projects in the nuts right now. The project isn’t dead but I’ve finally accepted that I’m only human and can only do so much. That being said, I feel obligated to share this dope interview I did with my man Jaro. He released a crazy mixtape called Cherubim around the time the interview took place that you need to check out. The man has a bright future ahead of him.

How would you describe your music?
A combination of Jesus turning water into wine with H.I.M Haile Selassie I handing out free blunts while Buddah DJ’s at a million angel march in the lower Eastside of heaven, that has a strip club where the 70 virgins that radical muslims get after they kill themselves work. Only at this strip club they take of their clothes in a comfortable mind expanding environment… All that, for your ears. Ha ha jokes. On the real, as far as the type of instrumentations and genres I draw from, I would say at its core is hip hop and reggae, but I draw inspiration from anywhere for production and voicing. I love electronic, rock, dub, dancehall, dubstep, folk and music native to old countries such as China, Australia and India to name a few. I love having a world sound. Lyrical content is just a reflection of life and all aspects of it. I’m a very spiritual person with a real love for mystery so that’s reflected as well. Hope I didn’t offend anybody.

You got your start in music as a rapper/vocalist for a band called The Chronicles. Were you always into genre blending?
Man, I miss The Chronicles. We had some REALLY good times. *sidebar* I won’t say that The Chronicles are done. Our core members are still together for the most part. We have just evolved our whole scope of who we are, so look out for an evolution of ‘The Chronicles’ in the future! As far as the question, that’s hard to say one way or the other. I grew up in Bermuda listening to old school reggae, old school gospel, soul and African songs such as the South African National Anthem. So I have always had an appreciation for different types of music. But I first fell in love with blending music when Busta dropped ‘When Disaster Strikes’. The song ‘Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See’ was huge in Bermy. That instrumental was so deadly. Every major dancehall and reggae artist jumped on it and tore it up. That’s what exposed me to blending music and it being hotter than if each artist stayed on their respective genre’s beats and riddims. When I moved to Canada back in the day, I was exposed to so many other types of music in large part thanks to my band members and close friends. When we came together we just said lets just all play what we bring to the table and don’t call it anything. As long as it grooves together we were happy. So rock, reggae, hip hop, jazz all made into our sound. Good times… That’s where I realized music is music. And I should embrace all types of music for my own sound.

The homey Beau of Napkin Works captured on the Halifax streets by photographic monster Riley Smith for Fashion East.

La Ronde Poster

Some of you might remember some posts I made on Twitter and Facebook about drawing naughty things. Well, those drawings turned into a full on original painting for this poster. This was easily one of the most fun projects I've ever worked on. Thank you to DalTheatre for letting me be free to swag out once again. Oh and check out the show. You know you want to you pervy pervs you.

Be Glitterati 2011-12 Look Book

Check it out. At long last the Be Glitterati look book and store are live. Hit me up about any items not displayed in the store that you might be interested in.

"Be Glitterati is a t-shirt line born from the daily influences of Bermuda born, Halifax based designer and artist Duane Jones. The inspiration for this line includes everything from rap, culture, depression, to happiness and sex.

The glitterati are known as the fashionable set of society but we consider the glitterati to be anyone on the grind who will stop at nothing to fulfill their dreams. The way we see it: Anyone can “Be Glitterati”."

Blood Wedding Poster

For my latest poster design for DalTheatre I decided to channel my inner Picasso while keeping the look consistent with my previous designs for this season. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Based on the research I did for this design, this looks to be an exciting show!

Glitterati x Black Tournament

Glitterati illustration featured on the 2011 Provincial Black Basketball Association tournament passes. 

Poets 4 Change Poster

Poster I did for and event that bridges poetry, fine art and youth together. It sounds really interesting. If you're fan of art or poetry you should check it out.

Glitterati Featured in Black to Business

A lot of my writing involves, talking about OTHER people and the things they're accomplishing. It was nice to have the tables turned when Chad Lucas wrote a piece about me for issue 47 of Black to Business, a Halifax based business magazine. If you're in the city you should check it out. Every time I read it I'm pleasantly surprised to see the faces and read the stories behind some of the businesses in Halifax.

Duane Featured in NSCAD Alumni Gallery

Hey guys. I'm excited to announce that some of my work is being featured in the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design's online alumni gallery. You can view it here.